Witness the Most '80s Video Ever

Ralphie Aversa

,

Trending Now•April 8, 2014

If Kevin Bacon's PSA on '80s awareness did not drive the point home for you, maybe this will. It is a nine-minute video filmed in 1987 that might serve as a perfect time capsule for what life was like a few decades ago.

Chris Iller uploaded this YouTube clip in May 2007, and it is gaining a lot of popularity now thanks to Reddit. He explained the premise in the video's description.

"One night back in August 1987 after a party at Disney's Vista Village (before Vista Way), I went out to the 7-11 with a video camera and a couple friends to see what people purchase at 2:30am [sic]," he wrote.

Sure they capture cash-register transactions, from a couple who buys toothpaste to a tourist who seeks out a cheese Danish. But perhaps more noteworthy are the simple interactions among people who appear on camera. The premise alone might have people who lived through the '80s feeling nostalgic; there is no way a store employee would allow you to film now, and chances are slim that complete strangers would act so calmly about it.

Despite the fact that Chris, Ken who is filming, and their other friend are complete strangers, the 7-Eleven customers they encounter are far from abrasive. Some are more talkative than others, but no one shuns the camera. If you tried to shoot this video today, you would certainly witness more people avoiding the camera either directly or indirectly through their smartphones.

The video is not without peculiarities. One of the most frequent appearances in the video is from a French woman who carries a car mirror into the 7-11. We never quite find out why exactly she's got it, or what she plans to do with it aside from pantomime using it as a microphone for the camera.

There are also some other, not-so-subtle nods to the decade of Michael Jackson's career rise and the Cold War's end. Aside from the cashier, the first two people the guys film are smoking in the building. The spectacular hair and wardrobes are what you would expect from 1987; the denim, gold watches, and popped collars are abundant. Also, the price of a Super Big Gulp was a mere 59 cents, which oddly enough was 10 cents less than the smaller Big Gulp.

The video, which is titled "2:30am at a 7-11 near Disney World – 1987," has almost 1.5 million views. Iller also uploaded a follow-up clip, where he catches up with his friends 20 years later. As one viewer wrote, it's "so 80's, it hurts."